That's the thing about EA. As you pointed out, they're a legion of everything that's wrong with gaming, but they didn't actually create any of it. They can't even be innovative in their evil! It's like they've set out to ruin the industry in the laziest fucking way possible. Down-right baffling.

[Also, I would like a shirt Jim, you sexy, sexy beast you.]

(Note that I used proper brackets instead of parentheses. I feel that should weigh things in my favor, personally, but it's your call ye God-Sent Nega-Santa.)

Howdy, Jim. Congrats on another stimulating episode that makes me loathe the gaming media. Last week's offering was also in reaction to IGN tomfoolery: the non-troversy surrounding Hitman: Absolution's trailer. One person, Keza MacDonald, wrote an article reading far too far into a piece of deliberate marketing trying to present its game as an over-the-top grindhouse affair, and suddenly there was a controversy. I was only able to find one other blogger upset by the trailer, and some guy tweeted about it. Everything else was talking about the article, not the trailer. The gamers who complained were mostly fans of the franchise who disagreed with the tone of the trailer. There was no torch-and-pitchfork PC mob, only people who were told by a columnist that they should be outraged. I was flabbergasted that one article constituted a controversy so powerful that it prompted an apologetic statement from the game director!That episode, and this one as well, got me thinking about how ridiculously monolithic the game industry media is. While there are a multitude of quality sites with content about games (The Escapist and Destructoid included), when it comes to the actual feed of trailers, announcements, and industry happenings, IGN is the principle source, while the others serve up old news second-hand. I've taken reluctantly to visiting IGN on a daily basis because it is the only comprehensive source of game news. However, I continue to find their original content unbelievably sophomoric and insulting in its simplicity. They seem to have no respect for the intelligence of the members of their community.I guess what I'm saying is, since you've so vigilantly explored the bullshit tactics of game corporations, I'd like to hear your take on the state of the gaming press. Maybe it would be unprofessional for a content provider of your caliber to verbally beat the stuffing out of IGN, but a guy can dream.

Every time I have to enter a code to play the game I just bought I die a little inside. When I can't connect to an EA server, even if I'm playing single player, I have to really try not breaking things. I'm not sure who was the first person to suggest online passes but I'd like to use a time machine and go back in time and push him in front of a bus.

(I would like the Gravity Rush T-shirt. Jim is quite possibly the sexiest man who ever lived. Next to him Tom Cruise and Bradley Cooper look like a rock with some googly eyes glued on.)

People are far to entitled in modern gaming, so when something pops up that they don't like, its all ire and fury. It's best not to forget that if it wasn't for companies like EA, we wouldn't have some of the games we love. But that's just my opinion. ps: if anyone feels the need to reply to this comment, don't start by saying "by your logic". I'm getting sick of morons saying it. Saying "logic" doesn't make you sound smart, nor does it make your opinion any more valid.

theultimateend:I liked the intro. The "Hey Suckers" then diving into the content was much faster. I've never been hot for the padding in the beginning because you have plenty of interesting things to say.

theultimateend:I liked the intro. The "Hey Suckers" then diving into the content was much faster. I've never been hot for the padding in the beginning because you have plenty of interesting things to say.

And unfortunately...that's going to look like pandering now...

[I would like a Gravity Shirt Please, Also Jim is Sexy.]

I liked the padding last week. That self help tape was gold.

Well when it is a long joke I love it.

But sometimes he has the long setup of us worshipping him which is funny in its own right but I fear it cuts into the time that he has to actually rant.

Or do they not have a time limit on video length here? I presumed they did. If they don't then my criticisms are moot.

Martin Toney:People are far to entitled in modern gaming, so when something pops up that they don't like, its all ire and fury. It's best not to forget that if it wasn't for companies like EA, we wouldn't have some of the games we love. But that's just my opinion. ps: if anyone feels the need to reply to this comment, don't start by saying "by your logic". I'm getting sick of morons saying it. Saying "logic" doesn't make you sound smart, nor does it make your opinion any more valid.

Which games? I'm not saying you are wrong I'm just curious. I'm >sure< there are some, I just can't think of any.

Here's my problem with all of the constant hate people seem to have for Electronic Arts. Since it's now gotten to the point that the mere sight of their logo on a game not only devalues that game but every other game on the shelf with it. Maybe if everybody didn't blame EA for every single video game related problem on the planet, I just might take the actual legitimate claims seriously. Don't get me wrong, I have my own problems with EA too. I'm still bitter over the whole NFL, NCAA license thing. But this whole massive hatred of EA has grown so large and gone on for so long that it's ceased to be about any important issue and just devolved into just being the thing to say to be considered accepted by your peers. Don't believe me? If your first thought to learning about the IGN article was "How dare they allow EA to try and tell their side of the story!", then the problem isn't with EA or IGN, the problem is with you.

A company that didn't do anything illegal is considered "The Most Hated Company Ever" for 2012 and no one can ask them what they think about it without hurling attacks and accusations at them? And if anyone does, then they're the ones that are considered journalistic sellouts? Now I'm not a professional journalist, but I think I can safely assume that most of the people here aren't either. And as far as the views of Jim Sterling goes, they have nothing to do with his credentials and knowledge of the industry and everything to do with him staying on the anti-EA bandwagon. Let him come out and praise EA for anything and genuinely mean it and he'll be another one of those suck-ups that sold his integrity for a nice fat check. Even when they're the legitimate victims, they're looked upon with undeserved scorn. I remember the story about the anti-gay organization that denounced EA for having openly gay characters in some of their games and someone actually had the nerve to blindly accuse them of taking a stand against the organization only being used to make them look good in the eyes of the public. That disgusted me more than anything. I honestly would have had more respect for that person if they sided with the organization. I would have completely disagreed with them, but at least they had the integrity to stick with their beliefs. But instead they choose to belittle their actual beliefs because the company they hate shares those beliefs. Because, you know, "How dare you and I have something in common!"

Now the only EA games I have for the pc is The Sims 2 and The Sims Medieval, so I could care less about anything that relates to the pc. (I know, I know. BLASPHEMY!) So everything that mainly interests me revolves around the consoles. I don't care about Dead Space. I don't care about Battlefield. I don't really care that much about Medal of Honor (although the modern day ones do raise some interest). I don't really care about any of the Dragon Age games. In fact, the only EA games that I did care about I don't care about on the Xbox 360 were Mirror's Edge, The Sims 3, and the Mass Effect games. And as far as Mass Effect goes, there is no other game series that I would defend to the death for. They managed to fulfill their trilogy obligations to the end and I am more than happy with how all of it was wrapped up. AND I DO MEAN ALL OF IT.

You know the problem with people constantly screaming the evil reputation of someone, and that reputation is built more on heresay than on facts, then the people doing the screaming are the ones that are more likely to begin to be judged. And if they demonstrate that they're not being completely legitimate, then their opinions are rendered invalid. So the next time you read or hear something that doesn't portray EA as the neo-Nazi party of the gaming world and you can't accept that, try going back and legitimizing your own problems before evaluating theirs.

WaitWHAT:Wait, I know EA is evil, but what does activision do, besides the whole CoD schmuck?

I think Activision's been doing that thing with Call of Duty (dragging out a franchise while avoiding original ip's like the plague) for years though, with examples being Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Guitar Hero. These IP's weren't bad, they just got drug out to a point where there was no way for the developers to make new ideas in time for their yearly release, and so they just got more and more bland until they (eventually) died with a whimper.

Also, they ride the whole day 1 DLC bandwagon a lot along with generally useless DLC. Remember during the days of COD MW2 when they charged $15 dollars for 2 new (ugly) maps and 3 maps from COD4? So, they basically try to rip you off on the value vs. content level all the time.

A lot of what people don't like about Activision can be traced directly to Bobby Kotick, their CEO. Expressing a desire for yearly "exploitation" of popular franchises, giving potentially interesting IPs the heave-ho half-finished and then suing other companies for daring to pursue them, not to mention the whole Infinity Ward/Respawn lawsuit debacle. Activision has its share of good, hot, top-down evil, that's for sure.

But one increasingly gets the impression that EA's evil is less top-down, more endemic. It's in the marketing, it's in the legal department, it's in the market strategy, and it's bleeding into the production.

Whoops, I just suggested EA might be worse than Activision. Now Kotick's going to eat a baby.

You're argument against EA is completely true. I was once a massive pirate, for example, and downloading Steam during a Winter sale fully converted me to the point I even deleted most of my pirated games. That's good business. And again, I'm in full agreement. Back in 2008, EA was a dream. They had Mirror's Edge, Dead Space, Mass Effect, and Bad Company out and they seemed great, like they were really trying to innovate... What happened?

Well, that's rhetorical, because you actually said what happened. Every publisher's bad policies were policies EA just haaad to adopt. At least they don't do massive re-releases like Capcom. Cheers to hoping the Nexon rumors are true.

[Also I would like a Gravity Rush t-shirt, please and Jim is sexy]

[Seriously, I couldn't tell who was the sexier: the DEAD SEXY concept art or the man talking]

"EA is like a pedophile Stalin" I want a poster that says that. Moving on, I started hating EA because of Dante's Inferno. The utter ruination of one the greatest works in literature, and one of my favorite books of all time still pisses me off to this day, and then I started looking at their practices and became enraged more and more. The mishandling of I.P. that it could've used to achieve great things in the realm of games, and its complete disrespect towards the consumer pushed me over the edge, and now I refuse to buy, or rent anything with their logo on it. As Gandhi once said:

"A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work - he is the purpose of it.We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to serve him.

I don't hate easily, and I always make sure that my anger is well earned, and EA has earned my hatred a time and time again.

[To the, wise, charming, benevolent, sexy, sharply dressed, and may I assume? Well hung Jim Sterling I would love the gift of a T-shirt from someone as kind and thoughtful as you.]

The funny thing about this is I knew most of the stuff about EA's failures (Partially from previous Jimquisitions), but I never thought about Valve. They are quite good aren't they?I may have to watch this one again later.[I would like a Gravity Rush shirt please. Also, Jim is sexy.]

Why do people hate the jimquisition? BECAUSE U.S RESIDENTS ONLY BLARGH.

Anyway I'm glad you put this video up, I've been arguing with one of my friends over Battlefield Premium and the general hate for EA and his very defence of them was "other companies do bad shit as well". I found it hard to describe just how much further EA was down the scale of "bad shit".

€A is really bad. ME3 is already an good example. giving the people a crappy ending so that can charge for DLC and from the looks of it, continue with the franchise since its so popular.

i did enjoy their games many years ago. MoHAA was actually a fun game to play, i still love mirrors edge and still play it. ME was absolutely awesome but they blew it with ME3 and most of all "origin". i got my self BF3, i do enjoy the game, but this will be my last €A ever since i dont like their dirty business scheme and dont want to support them with my money. €A is just so greedy that it gives a damn about their customers, uses other companies to do their dirty work and dont want to change anything so that they dont have to lose any more money.

i got upset when bullfrog got shut down or maxis. thats were i started to become more cautions about €A and their products.

valve is still number 1 in my book and i gladly give my money to them. because they treat me right and give what i have payed for.

IGN can suck my balls anyway. they seam to be too corrupt that basically every game gets hyped.

EA does more consumer bullshit, but Activision is guilty of so much internal bullshit. Honestly, I gave them a break when Mass Effect 3 appealed to 'broader audiences' with the action mode. I even tried it myself, and it's not bad if you feel like playing "Metal Gear Effect". But, and I haven't even bothered with Dead Space, when I saw the Dead Space 3 gameplay, I wanted to play it even less. Not just because it looks like Gears, but even worse, it looks like Gears was in turn turned into an even worse version of Lost Planet. Which was shit, because, you know, Capcom n'all.

[I would like a Gravity Rush shirt please. Also, Jim is sexy. (But not as sexy as Jonathan Holmes or Willem Dafoe.)]

(I can get behind this sentiment, though I still find Activision insufferable.)

[On the other hand, EA did ruin the ME series, DA series, and eliminated Westwood -Nox was neat!- and Origin -I still play the Wingcommander games- ...so I still find myself despising them and their unscrupulous business practices just that much more.]

#Thank you, Jim. We appreciate the more audible juxtaposition to the rubbish 'media' that IGN vomits out.#

-#[<{I would like a Gravity Rush shirt, please; Also, Jim is sexy.}>]#-

Yeah it pains me that so many of my favorite franchises are owned by EA, and that with each new release. I dislike more and more of what they're doing to these franchises, like Dead Space, and Mass Effect.(Also I would like a Gravity Rush Shirt, and I find Jim to be a mildly sexy beast.)

EA needs to change their image, and they can start with the Extended Cut DLC. If that doesn't live up to standards....that'll just be the last straw. When they say 'Artistic Integrity', it's embarassing, you have to be artistic to have that kind of integrity. You're not artistic...simple fact.

So EA. Fix everything up or GTFO!

Also, I would like a shirt. Praise be the Almighty Jim, as without your wisdom this world is destined for damnation. never has there been a sexier man who was also the imbodyment of knowledge.(I live in Australia so am not actually elegable for the shirt, plus it wouldn't fit me anyway. I just had to get my feelings off of my chest)

Ultratwinkie:Why is it that when I said the AAA industry is in bad shape two years ago, I was called crazy?

Yet when Jim says it, its suddenly some great revelation?

All prophets are called crazy in their own time. You are merely better than us, O Wise One of the Interwebz.

[I would like a Gravity Rush T-Shirt please. Also Jim is sexy.]

well it wasn't that hard. It was a simple google search of bad news that interlocked. My prediction was literally a single google search. All it got was "lol nope the AAA industry will go on forever and have infinite growth."

Martin Toney:People are far to entitled in modern gaming, so when something pops up that they don't like, its all ire and fury. It's best not to forget that if it wasn't for companies like EA, we wouldn't have some of the games we love. But that's just my opinion. ps: if anyone feels the need to reply to this comment, don't start by saying "by your logic". I'm getting sick of morons saying it. Saying "logic" doesn't make you sound smart, nor does it make your opinion any more valid.

But, by your logic.... whine whine... EA are evil!!! Their business practices are the evilest, they like give your cancer and force you to hand over all your money... whine, whine. etc etc, for 1000's of posts.

People really need to get over themselves - especially the author of this weekly font of whining.

Id talk about how ign must have totally thought that article through and decided to find the unbiased opinionbut I thought it was pretty obvious that ign was a sleazy whore of a reviewer and would take bribes from anybody

Its funny because I read that article last week and I felt the same way. IGN makes IGNorant claims like that all the time. BTW read ur review of Lollipop Chainsaw. "Just because something is dumb doesn't mean it isn't brilliant" Just epic!

O and you're very sexy and Id like the Gravity Rush shirt. Though I think it would fit you. Have you tried to butter ur nipples?